AURORA — Kimberly “InVinity” Ford has always dreamed of poetry, of crafting words that could speak to an audience.

Sitting on the floor of her spartan, dimly lit apartment, Ford, 24, says she now has the perfect platform.

On Nov. 26, Ford gave birth to a baby boy, Basier. And in mid-February, she learned she would be a single mom.The man who said he wanted to marry her is focusing his priorities elsewhere, she says.

Wounded but determined to move on, Ford created a Kickstarter project in May. She is trying to raise $14,000 by July 8 to create a video series titled “Keep Ya Head Up,” about the trials of single motherhood. Using spoken-word poetry, personal narrative and video interviews, the young mother wants to quash stigmas and affirm those like her.

She has a lot of company.

Single moms run roughly 60,000 households in Denver and Arapahoe counties, according to the most recently available U.S. Census data, from 2012. More than half of those moms live with children under age 18.

Ford uses poetry for self-discovery and empowerment. Her performance name, InVinity, is a blend of infinity and divinity; it means “being forever committed to the fight for social justice,” she says.

One of her first video poems detailed her Chinese-Puerto Rican background, shared in a YouTube film, ” LatinAsian: A Chinese and Puerto Rican Woman.” When she was a senior at Fort Collins High School, one of her teachers showed her a video of the “Hebrew Mamita” slam-poet Vanessa Hidary. In the clip, Hidary blurs the lines of her mashed-up social and religious subcultures — sentiments Ford related to.

Ford went to Colorado State University and graduated with an ethnic studies major and women’s studies minor, developing her own voice along the way.

When Ford talks, she is soft and serene. Her words are slow, but her hands are fast, whipping about in staccato chops. She has a head of cascading dark brown hair, a big toothy smile and eyes that hold a wisdom beyond her years. On the outside — at least — she’s a confident young mother.

Journey for redemption

The poise Ford exudes came after what could have been a near-death experience.

It was approaching 9 p.m. on May 1. Ford had just dropped Basier off at her ex-boyfriend’s house so he could see his son for a few days. They had been living apart for several months.

Instead of upending the vehicle, she swerved away from a tree and parked her car. Her 2001 tan Toyota Corolla sat on the embankment near the off ramp, its headlights piercing the night like the eyes of a wolf.

If she took her life, she thought then, maybe her ex would feel something for her.

But then she realized another life was at stake: her son’s. Now she is on a mission to heal.

“This is a project that needs to be done,” Ford says. “So much of it is both sadness and beauty. I finally feel like I’m on the other side of extreme pain.”

Keep ya head up

Ford wants her project to confront single-mom stereotypes.

“Before, I thought I wouldn’t be one. I thought these were women who chose men badly,” Ford says. “But there are so many women who believe they are in a committed relationship and then end up becoming single mothers.”

Ford plans to use short videos to document her journey from mourning to forgiveness. She will feature other mothers’ stories, too.

One of those is Shani Hilliard, who participated in a panel discussion at Ford’s Kickstarter kick-off event in late May. Hilliard has been a single mother for roughly 20 years.

“People are so scared to talk about it because they’re embarrassed,” Hilliard says. “Because they were told something and someone didn’t uphold their end of the deal.”

Valerie Schultz-Gonzalez, another mother who participated on Ford’s panel, says the project will engender a sense of community. She married a man from Mali who she says became emotionally and verbally abusive when they moved back to the U.S. She left the marriage to protect herself and her 4-year-old daughter.

“This is what happened to me so I can help you along the way,” Schultz-Gonzalez says of the project. “I’ve just moved out of surviving; now we’re starting to live — and we’re moving toward thriving.”

The juggling act

“Being a single mom is one of the toughest jobs in the world,” says Sharon Knight, CEO of Warren Village, a nonprofit that assists single-parent families.

For single parents, the most dire hurdles have to do with finances, Knight says. It’s becoming harder for single moms to move from public assistance to supporting themselves.

According to data from Colorado’s 2011 Self-Sufficiency Standard, for one parent and one preschool-age child to subsist in Denver or Arapahoe counties, the guardian would need to make between $40,000 and $48,000 per year.

Also, because of government cutbacks, Banning says support agencies are being pressured to reach out to more moms. But many don’t have enough resources or manpower to accommodate everybody.

Although her future is uncertain, Ford says she has a support system in her family and friends. Her mom, who lives in Fort Collins, helps babysit and buys clothes for Basier.

But Ford is financially dependent on her ex, who still pays the rent on her apartment. She is unsure how long that will last, so she is applying for jobs and trying to start a video production company.

The biggest misconception pinned on single moms, Banning notes, is that they are “welfare queens.” In her experience, she notes, it’s the opposite: Single moms have something to prove; they want people to know they can make it.

Kick-starting change

Basier is in the scooting phase. He smiles like his mom and has a mound of dark curls atop his head.

“One person certainly can have a strong voice,” Banning says. “But somehow it really becomes the collective that needs to start talking.”

At the Kickstarter launch party in May, a mother reached out to Ford to start a single mothers’ support group. Ford hopes they can establish the group by the fall.

At time of publication, “Keep Ya Head Up” had raised approximately $2,000. Coming to grips with the fact that the Kickstarter could fail, Ford is undaunted.

She says regardless of the result, the project has helped her move past her low point from May. It has made her not want to give up her fight for single-mom social justice and her quest to be the best mother for Basier.

Kimberly Ford is trying to raise $14,000 by July 8 to create a video series using spoken-word poetry, personal narrative and interviews with single women. The Kickstarter has a three-minute trailer online at kickstarter.com; search “Keep Ya Head Up.”

My husband and I are retired. We married 12 years ago — several years after his ex had an affair and left him. My husband has two grown sons (around 40), one of whom is married. The married son and his wife essentially ignore that I exist.